TEST
Merry Patricia Wilding was sitting on a cobblestone wall, sketching three rutabagas and daydreaming about the unicorn.”
So begins one of the most beloved historical romances and my personal favorite. When it was first released in 1984, The Windflower was a revelation to me – a many-layered, multi-textured leap forward that set a new standard of excellence for the genre.
As evidenced in their other books, Sharon and Tom Curtis have a remarkable talent for taking an ordinary young woman and putting her into extraordinary circumstances that captivate the reader. Arguably, this is their master work.
Heroine Merry Wilding lives a quiet life in her small Virginia community with a maiden aunt whose devotion to all things British has left them nearly ostracized. But Mary is soon wrenched from her pallid existence and thrust into a full-blown adventure when she runs afoul of Devon, a gorgeous Englishman who thinks she’s consorting with his enemy. Tossed into his cabin aboard a pirate ship, Merry struggles to preserve her virtue – and her very life.
But The Windflower is not your typical shipboard romance, nor are the pirates standard issue. These violent men with intriguing pasts are among the most realistic to be found in romantic fiction. In the guise of a benevolent dictator, Captain Rand Morgan maneuvers those around him like chess pieces. At one point he leaves a leaky boat for Merry to use in an escape attempt that nearly drowns her and turns Devon against her with renewed fervor. When called on it, Rand calmly explains, “One must suffer a little adversity if one wants to be interesting.”
Under his tutelage, Merry changes from a timid, sheltered girl with few resources into a brave, self-possessed, complex young woman capable of holding her own with anyone, including Devon. Bedeviled by his own demons, Devon is torn between his desire for Merry and his obsession with revenge. One of the most appealing heroes ever created, Devon can be dangerously beguiling, incredibly tender, and suddenly lethal.
But Merry has a secret that threatens their evolving relationship, and she keeps it throughout her imprisonment, escape, recapture, near-fatal illness and recuperation. Only when Devon takes her with him to England are all the many threads of the story resolved, including the identity of the unicorn that has been visiting Merry’s dreams since her childhood.
From its very first sentence, The Windflower seduces the senses with lush, lyrical, evocative prose. It is a brilliantly-plotted work full of wonderful details, subtle eroticism, clever humor, and heart-wrenching emotion, yet it is the characters that really capture the reader. Not only are the hero and heroine unforgettable, but a wealth of secondary characters are drawn with a richness and depth rarely equalled. The pirates, especially Rand and his teenage protege Cat, are so compelling that each begs for his own story. When the cold Cat, bought from an island brothel at the age of twelve, cries over Merry, it is one of the most moving passages of the book. I can only add my voice to the chorus requesting a sequel.
Although The Windflower was reissued in 1995, I still love the original cover, a beautiful close-up rendering the hero and heroine leaning forward into a kiss. Like the story, it’s a one-of-a-kind that I’ve not seen before or since. Indeed, after thirteen years and numerous readings, The Windflower still has the power to dazzle and delight me as no other. A true Desert Isle Keeper, it more than fulfills the promise of good romance: you will laugh; you will cry; and you will want to read it again and again.
Grade: A
Book Type: American Historical Romance|Historical Romance
Sensuality: Warm
Review Date: 14/07/97
Publication Date: 1995
Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.
Over the years, AAR has had many a guest reviewer. If we don't know the name of the reviewer, we've placed their reviews under this generic name.
Related Reviews
This review, by (I believe) Alexis Hall, at Dear Author is THE BEST.
https://dearauthor.com/featured-2/review-the-windflower-pending/
I was so upset when DA stopped publishing AJH’s romance reviews. I literally couldn’t wait for them to be posted every other Friday. . . .
We reviewed there at the same time. Interesting times.
Thanks for the feedback. I’m asking because I have a copy I’ve never read and getting ready for major move/downsizing. Trying to figure out what is worth moving/keeping, and what I should let go. And @Caroline you are correct, this author is actually a husband and wife writing team. Tom and Sharon Curtis. Wouldn’t it be fun to know which was the ironic voice and who was purple?
https://allaboutromance.com/sharon-tom-curtis-aka-laura-london-on-writing-as-a-team/
Would anyone here at AAR consider this a “seminal” work e.g. something to be kept for its historical value? It does show up on some early AAR Top 100 lists (1998) – but as we’ve been discussing, some of those “winners” were works that were popular for a short period of time.
Personally, I consider it an evolutionary dead end. Some very interesting things were happening in it, especially the early shift into historicals comedy, and some sequences that show awareness and subversion of genre tropes. I don’t think, though, that the book was widely read enough that I can draw a direct line and call it an originator or leading edge of the lighthearted historicals of the 1990s spearheaded by Julia Quinn, whom I think was more influenced by some of the screwball comedy Heyers. (Of course, I also don’t know that she DIDN’T read The Windflower.) If “seminal” means it transformed the genre, I definitely don’t believe it did. However, it’s unusual and original for its time, so there’s some rationale behind keeping it if you wanted some sort of “collection of important works.”
That’s just my two cents, though, and keep in mind that I’m not somebody who was reading in that time period.
I read it years ago and really liked it. Today, I think I would find the heroine a bit too silly, but I recall it being a fun read.
Anyone read this? It shows up several times over the years on AAR Top 100 lists, as well as other lists as being a seminal work in the history of romances.
I read it for the first time a year or so ago and found it very interestingly uneven. I felt like I could tell when the author had shifted within the writing team. I liked one voice a lot more – someone witty and ironic and with a bit of an affectionate wink at the historical genre. The other voice was purple and very Garwood/ Woodiwiss-y. I would love a book in that first voice but the presence of the second made this maybe a B.
I’ve read it and I liked it – I agree with Caroline’s assessment, but i enjoy it a bit more as simple fluff.